Sony Doesn’t Understand What’s Happening With The PS4

Sony recently announced that the PS4 had broken 10 million units sold since it launched in November last year. That’s a pretty huge number and it’s safe to say that almost nobody expected it to be quite so high, least of all Sony themselves.

Changing tact a little, imagine you’re an orange. Absolutely identical to all the oranges in your bowl but on a specific day the owner of the ball decides to eat you. You don’t know why, you can’t quite understand it but it makes you happy. This was initially a romance metaphor but orange you glad I didn’t go that route?

In short: the PS4 is selling like hot cakes and Sony’s best approximation as to why this is is something along the line of:

“It’s just beyond our imagination. We are so happy. But I for one am a bit nervous because we do not completely understand what’s happening,” said Sony’s Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida in an interview with Eurogamer.

Yoshida goes on to say that Sony has had its marketing department investigate the matter and they discovered that a lot of PS4 owners did not own a PS3. This was recently pointed out to us by reader demfax who pulled the information from Kotaku. The exact figures go like this: 31% of PS4 owners had a Wii or Xbox 360 while 17% of them didn’t have any previous gen console. That’s a whopping 48% of PS4 owners who have never owned a PS3.

“As soon as we see a great sales number, our instinct tells us we should be concerned about future sales, right? Are we exhausting all the core gamers? If we sell this number of units, there are no more consumers we can sell to. That’s a really terrifying prospect,” said Yoshida. “So we want to understand who are these consumers who we do not necessarily consider core gamers, who are purchasing PS4 and why they are doing it and what they are doing with PS4, so we can create a bit more of a positive future, rather than saying, wow, we have sold to every single core gamer. So that’s what we are doing.”

I’m inclined to say that Sony is looking a gift griffin in the mouth but at the same time it’s good that they have not been made overconfident by this. Even though every Sony exec (Yoshida excluded) looks like a dick when he takes to the stage at an event.

I am glad you said Yoshida excluded, coz he is a great man, a great great man, he is adorable.

Yanas

I would say its because PS4 viral marketing started off great at E3 last year and they where the first console to most countries with a cheaper initial price point. Microsoft will probably start catching up by christmas this year with more region releases and bundles. What concerns me is that these sales, to me, seem to be fueled on hype, we need to start seeing new features and games especially of the AAA variety. What I want most is cheaper digital prices for new releases.

AG_Sonday

Initial sales were fueled by early adopters and I agree that this whole first year has been propped up by promises made rather than promises delivered (there are some features touted at reveal that we’re still waiting for) and really neither Sony or MS has changed all that much since the gen started. By next year that will hopefully change.

What I wonder is whether MS will be able to carve up enough of the market for themselves by the time the holiday season rolls in. I think they’ve been pushing their marketing but a lot of people still seem partial to PS4.

Without cheaper digital prices I don’t see us transition to digital.

Deshni Naidoo

As crass as it is, I think for a lot of people who aren’t core gamers or fanboys, it was a case of which next gen console arrived first.

AG_Sonday

I wouldn’t really call it crass, it’ s likely true and the PS4 was in far more regions long before the X1.

Geno

“The exact figures go like this: 31% of PS4 owners had a Wii or Xbox 360
while 17% of them didn’t have any previous gen console. That’s a
whopping 48% of PS4 owners who have never owned a PS3.” Please correct me if I am mis-understanding something. But doesn’t that mean that 48% of ps4 owners DID previously own a ps3.

AG_Sonday

31% had a Wii or X360 but no PS3
17% never had a Wii, PS3 or X360
I may have worded it oddly but the figures are correct.

Guest

So 100% of ps4 users never had a ps3?

AG_Sonday

Si

Geno

My mistake i was swapping the 48% with the 52% in my head. Brain fart.

AG_Sonday

No worries, if only you knew the dodgy arithmetic that goes on in my head sometimes :P

MichaelMatusowsky

I’d fall into the “did not previously own a console” category once I earn enough money to get a PS4 in two years time :/.